Lewis Powell's Family

[MaddieM]

Betty, I'm assuming the lower jaw is not fixed to the top jaw, and that the two pieces of the skull come away from each other. Could it be that the top half of his skull was dropped at some point, hence also the missing top teeth. I'm also assuming that after death bone is more brittle and therefore, might crack more easily? So the chances of this being post mortem are high? Surely, if this fracture was done after the fall, he'd have suffered more than he apparently did.

[BettyO]

That's what I believe, Maddie. Yes, upon death and disintegration, the jaw (i.e. lower mandible) comes apart from the top half of the skull; also the head comes off from the spinal column because the cord has disintegrated which holds in on! I learned that awhile back because I thought skeletons were all connected - not so! The bones are strewn all over once the flesh rots - no muscle, tissue, etc. to hold it together! So yes, his lower jaw would be separate.

I'm also beginning to think that poor Lew's noggin' was at one time dropped and the face cracked (NOT while he was <ahem> still in it! HA!) This could also account for the fact that his upper teeth are missing - yes the bones are more brittle at that time as well from what I surmise.

I don't think that the fall from the horse on the 14th of April would cause that - too severe an injury and there would be a lot of apparent bruising and swelling of his face in the photos -

I'm NO doctor and no scientist, just my observations......

[Gene C]

I agree with you BettyO, and I learned forensics from the best. Remember Jack Klugman as Quincy M.E.

[GARY POPOLO]

Hello everyone, Well I have to say I don't think Mr. Powell ever received this amount of attention when he was alive! I believe he would have appreciated all the attention. I also think that Lewis and his past were never really explored until now. What I have read so far from all your posts really makes me look forward to reading BettyO's book on Paine which I will have soon. Keep up the good work!

[wsanto]

So you think this was later in life than that mule kick done when he was 12 years old?

We know he was thrown from his horse face/head first on the night of the assassination. He had a bruised lip, blackened eye and probably a bloodied nose and cuts and abrasions to his chin,nose and hands. He also probably suffered a concussion as he himself more or less stated that he was knocked out.

Could this severe an injury be caused by being thrown like that? There is no other apparent injury to his face in his photos taken a few days later.....

It seems to me that the fracture lines would have healed to some extent in either case. Fractures like these are usually healed in weeks (that's why you wear a cast for six weeks when you break your arm). They also would have healed with new bone that would make the fracture lines appear more like scars on the skull than as actual fractures. That, to me, is the best evidence that poor Lew's skull fell face-first many years post-mortum (The way he's holding it, Kauffman may have dropped it-- but I am not sure)

I, too would LOVE to see a 3D modeling of his face....it could be done - I'm looking for software! Would one have to have the actual skull or just a photograph?

I'm not sure. I don't think you can do it from your home PC with a picture. You probably need a forensics lab and the actual skull to recreate his face. On the front page of the Roanoke Times a few days ago there were four pics of recreated faces from cold-case remains found in the area.

[Linda Anderson]

Here's an article on how they reconstructed the face of Richard III. He certainly is a lot better looking than how Laurence Olivier portrayed him.



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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/a...z2JtVHO2rN

[Laurie Verge]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the finding of Richard IIIs bones reminded me that it was one of JWB's favorite Shakespeare roles.

[Linda Anderson]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the finding of Richard IIIs bones reminded me that it was one of JWB's favorite Shakespeare roles.

You are right, Laurie. From The Darkest Dawn by Thomas Goodrich:

"'Edwin has more poetry, John Wilkes more passion,' noted one critic...'Edwin is more Shakespearean, John Wilkes more melodramatic; and in a word, Edwin is a better Hamlet, John Wilkes a better Richard III.'

"And yet, it was not the role of the hunchbacked murderer that John Wilkes preferred, and for which he was most closely identified, but that of the wronged king, and that of the selfless slayer of tyrants. 'Of all Shakespeare's characters, I like 'Brutus' the best, excepting only 'Lear,' admitted the actor. Nevertheless, it was Richard, the role his father performed with such spellbinding perfection, that shot young Booth into stardom."

The New York Times has a Disunion article on Booth and "Richard III", "The Assassin's Debut," by Adam Goodheart.

"So now, on Dec. 1 [1860], newspapers and handbills announced the first appearance of a familiar actor under an only half-familiar name: J. Wilkes Booth. He was to take the title parts in a long-forgotten drama, “Rafaelle,” and another Shakespeare play, “Richard III.”

"The latter role had helped make his father famous, and the younger Booth would continue performing it to great acclaim for the rest of his life. He seemed to take naturally to the character of the despotic ruler, overthrown and slain in the last act, whose credo is 'I am determined to prove a villain.' Reviewers would describe his scenery-chewing histrionics in evoking the hunchback Richard’s 'tempests of tragic wrath,' as well as his swashbuckling swordplay in the final battle scene."

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/201...ins-debut/

[L Verge]

Some of the news media in the D.C. area has dwelt on Richard's final words, "My kingdom for a horse!" Booth's final words might easily have been, "My freedom for a horse!" The Garrett boys wiped out that hope, however, when they locked the barn door before the horse was stolen...